Saturday, August 27, 2011

Rooting for ruby red beetroot, here's a quick & super easy side, nothing glamorous or fancy - just a good for you 'unmessed with' beets. I've been making repeats with a couple of delicious ways to serve these healthy addition to our diet. A sweetish hot beet upkari & oven roasted beets are 2 favourite side dishes devoured happily by both my kids. Did I mention that I have one picky kid & another extremely picky?!

A week ago few of beet shreds went into the red velvet cake as a trial & I was very proud that the kids had no idea that they were eating healthy. I almost feel powerful to have complete control of what goes into their bodies...well, almost! In near future I do have plans of making a raitha & a cold soup as well. Did I mention that I have a few golden beets growing in my kitchen garden?

Monday, August 15, 2011

A relaxing 2 week road trip with the kids went e-x-t-r-e-m-l-y well. Driving around with kids for hrs together is not as daunting (this time around) as it was until a few years ago. Thank's to all the fast food chains for 3+ meals (parental judgement is futile here), nintendo & gameboy which were used to the max. Meeting up & staying over at a few of the closest family we have here in the U S as well as visiting a few places around at temp destination were all going as planned. What a perfect way to make use of hot summer days & vacation, I thought.....only until I came home to a minor setback of a break-in. It brought all the smiles down & scared my babies for sure! It was pretty hard to assure the kids that all would be okay, the very first night back home while I was scared just as much... but materials can always be replaced. Luckily we moved past the fear pretty quick under the circumstances and planned to have the house ready for the Chudi pooja this coming weekend.

Here's how the front of the house looks today.

I'm happy how my little tulsi plant was decorated for the day.

I couldn't be happier that the chudi pooja and lunch we hosted went really well. Just plain old laughter, good food and might I add a perfect, amchi meal, if you ask me! It was a beautiful day weather wise & the special shravan celebration for the sumangali friends made my house feel blessed as well.

Monday, July 4, 2011

A mental image of a hearty breakfast to be put out to relish (and savour) drives me out of bed on this special day. I'm just about ready for the brunch I'm hosting this weekend with a new zest as the arrival of a close friend brings out enthusiasam in my otherwise lazy holiday morning. This meal is also a favourite when done right. So pressure's on!

It's about time to get started with the prep to have it ready for the hungry bunch (who are so lucky to get hours to lounge on bed) so I'll be done before they get to the kitchen. It would be wonderful to have a few things prepped but I'm not a a fan of cooking half the food previous eve & the rest of it early in the morning to save time later...seriously, there's restaurants for that. Good things come to those who wait( especially this case)! This dry garlic chutney also called losuni puddi (dry)chutney though is an exception.

The regular masala dosa is getting a zing today, transforming from the usual to the infamous Mysore masala dosa with the chutney.

Recipe remains the same to make masala dosa, potato bhaji & the corriander chutney. The dry garlic chutney ( warmed in a microwave for a minute to moisten & releast oil from the coconut)smeared on the dosa ( while still on tava) as it is getting crisper by the minute is the only addition . All these sides takes atleast a couple hours of prep into making them from the kitchen to table. All well worth!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Thanks to Deepa & Rajesh Pai who treated us to this amchi feast last evening. I could tell by Rajesh's enthusiasm that he was about to debut a new dish which made this much awaited meet up all the more special.

Dinner was made with great dedication taking care to perfect the shevai (string hoppers) as well as making a innovative chicken dish (yet to be named ) to go along with the string hoppers. Veg lovers had the option of batate vaagu, karathe nonche & karanda nonche, just arrived from India...yum! What a delish!

Our impromptu meet ( impromtu for us, I think it was pre-planned by the Pai's) made me realise that we must really mean a lot to them as they went all out with the food prep for a simple casual meet. Either way, good food to go with great company, who's complaining! ;)
I'm glad to have had the best shevai available to me in the U S from the Pai kitchen.
(Chicken recipe will be borrowed & posted upon request via mail).

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

These are especially made for our 'girls night in' event for my favourite girls ( Reshma, Deepa, Vinaya, Divya)coming over tomorrow eve. The cookies are made from my simplest sugar cookie recipe of all with the addition of a drop of strawberry jam in the middle. Making these were a breeze. note to remember is to chill the cut out cookies & then bake as they spread super easy. It was tasty nonetheless.

In a medium bowl combine the sugar and the lime zest. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, on medium-high speed, cream together the butter and lime scented sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add yolks one at a time, scraping down the mixer after each addition. Mix in vanilla and key lime juice and beat for another 30 seconds on medium-high speed.

Add salt and flour and mix on low speed until ingredients are fully incorporated.

Divide dough into four logs. Roll so that they are easy to slice. Wrap them in plastic or wax paper and place into fridge for 1 hour. You can go as long as overnight if you have stuff to do.

Preheat oven to 350F. Remove cookies from fridge. Slice cookies to about ½ inch thick. Place on a parchment lined (or you can use baking spray) cookie sheet and space about an inch apart. They don’t really spread out all that much.

Bake for 14-16 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. They aren’t going to be a super soft cookie. More of a shortbread bite if you will. Let them cool, drizzle glaze.

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup key lime juice
Zest of 1 lemon

Whisk the sugar and juice together until it’s a thick but pourable glaze. Pour over cookies. Let glaze set up, sprinkle (don't know what the right word is) zest and eat.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Heat oil in a skillet, temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chilli pieces and wait till seasonings begins to splutter. Add in greens & salt. Stir, cover & cook on reduced heat for about 10 minutes. The very little bit of water in the chopped leaves are just enough moisture to cook this. Take off heat.
Optional; garnish with grated coconut. (Omitted here)

Saute eggplant pieces in a large skillet till lightly roasted. Set aside.

Heat a little oil in the skillet, saute onions,cumin seeds, spices, green chillies and ginger and garlic for a few minutes. Addin tomatoes and cook on medium heat till the mixture is almost dry and leaves oil from the sides.

Mix in fried eggplants, salt, and let cook a few minutes till eggplants are done through.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Soak rice and dal for a couple fo hours. Grind coconut, tamarind, chillies to a fine paste using a little water.
Add rice and dal and grind further to make a coarse paste . Add salt. Use one of the following; cabbage with onion, snakegourd seeds, drumstick leaves or flowers.

Heat a griddle with oil, pour a spoonful of batter and spread with the spoon or flatten with hand to a thick dosa. The beauty of these are the ease making it no-fail side dish for the novice. Flip over the dosa and fry on the other side till lightly roasted. Serve hot with dalithoy and rice.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Ghashi inspired by my favourite Prabhu family, Roopa's signature dish. It tastes heavenly coming out of her kitchen than mine. I love the simplicity of this dish, mildly spiced, eye pleasing ( I promise a better pic than the one below) & super-easy to make.
Here' was my attempt to get as close to the original dish as possible. Turn-out was pretty good considering my poor cooking skills when it comes to fish. It was way better a day after except that, I knew that I could never reheat it right without breaking the fillets apart. Pretty darn tasty, though.

Ingredients:
8 fish pieces (best with cod, tilapia, pomfret)

1 cup grated coconut

1 onion finely chopped

1" piece ginger, julienned

7-8 long red chillies

Tamarind extract

3-4 green chillies, slit

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tablespoon oil
Salt

( I promise 'someday' I will load up a better picture of my alle piyave ghashi to do justice to this delicioius curry)

Method:

Grind grated coconut, red chillies and tamarind extract into a smooth paste.
In a pan heat oil and add chopped onion, green chillies and ginger , saute for a minute. Add turmeric, ground coconut masala, 1/2 cup of water, salt and bring it to boil. Place the fish and simmer the heat to the lowest heat setting of your cooking range and cook it for 8-10 minutes covered. Serve the curry with boiled rice for the authentic jalke randey taste.

In a hot thick bottomed pan pour ghee and roast rava, raisins & cashew nuts on a medium heat till aromatic. Add sugar, cardomom powder and saffron strands mix .
Pour in hot water, stir, cover & cook for few minutes (about 7-10) and turn off the heat.
A well done sheera leaves the sides of the pan without sticking to the bottom & has ghee holding together as a whole.

Roast the rava a teaspoon of oil till a slight change in color & aromatic. keep it a side.

Heat the pan with oil add mustard , cumin seeds, curry leaves, urad dal, chana dal and allow them to splutter. Add peanuts & onion and fry till translucent. Add a pinch of turmeric powder, 2 cups of water & salt and bring to boil. Once water is boiling add roasted rava and stir continously till most of the moisture has evaporated. Garnish with cilantro, cover & turn off the heat.

Friday, January 14, 2011

What would winter be without soups to warm us up. A perfect soup according to me, is one that does not have corn flour for thickening, no color added to beautify and simply unmessed with.
This one is one such kind.

With January being a national soup month & with the icy weather we've been having, its a perfect time to make some soul warming hot & savoury soup. A simple comfort in a bowl & (the roasted aroma of tomatoes should be a good enough reason) saves me from camping out next to the stove to cook a big amchi meal on this lazy Friday eve.

This pureed soup doesn't require any recipe to be followed. Ingredients are vaguely mesured and is pretty much of roast, puree, water down to right consistency, season to your taste kind. This one's off of a magazine read a while ago which I mentally promised to make it, as it had just a handful ingredients that gets all tossed in an oven, pureed in a hand blender, a sprinkle of paprika, done!
I wish I had the info handy to give the rightful credit for this quick to whip goodness. Here goes!

A sense of pride drapes over me on getting positive results from this visually pleasing, tastebud tantalizing hot chicken recipe that I was holding back, unsure of the authenticity. As a recent convert to flexitarianism, meat wasnt someting that I truly enjoyed eating. My meat consumption is strictly dependant if there is no vegetarian option available to me. This dish is an exception, though! I relished this for the first time at my latest trip back to homeland. I for one never order chicken dishes for myself at any restaurant but the perfect blend of heat & spices had me hooked on it.

The three ladies who have cooked this exclusively for me after hearing me gloat about the ghee roast I ate, made it with three different sets of ingredients, leaving me with more doubts than before. After playing around a few different times, experimenting with addition & omission of dhaniya jeera powder, having more freedom to tweak the measurements in my own kitchen to the family's taste gave rise to a perfect dish.
Happy, happy joy, joy!

On a slightly different note: A dearest cousin shared her precious 'ghee roast powder' too. Precious, I say since you realise the value only when you are outside India, that she graciously parted with. I believe her's was S.R.R brand which is awesome in itself. I attempted making my own powder coming close with comparison and was sort of pleased. YAY! Win-win.
Recipe will be up soon.

Here's a keeper recipe that is going to be prepared more often due to the simplicity of the method & ratings given by the family.

Chicken, 1 lbs
Red chillies about 30 ( mine was a mix of byadi for color & habenero for heat)

In the heavy bottomed pan, heat ghee and the ground masala. Saute the masala stirring every few minutes till the masala separates from the ghee and the pungency from the garlic disappears . Add chicken. Once the dish comes to a boil simmer on low heat till the chicken is cooked thoroughly .

At this point the masala has reduced making the masal stick to the sides of the chicken leaving the ghee seperated from the dish. Perfect! Transfer to serving dish, garnish with sliced onion & green chilies.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The couple days of break from school for kids, the cabin fever & us snowed in from the blizzard has been good for me baking wise. I finally got to crossing off more from my 'to-do's' as well as making savoiardi. And why not, it takes only basic ingredients + it is fun to pipe them in neat rows & the kids love to sprinkle sugar & watch them dissappear. I now wonder why I waited so long to make these delicate fingers.

In the past, I have spent a lot of time at the bread isle & the bakery section looking for lady fingers at every trip at the grocery. If I did get my hands on them, they looked very flat & underbaked. Making them sounded much simpler than going in search of these.

I followed the trustworthy The Cordon Bleu At Home .
Makes about 36 fingers

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then brush 2 baking sheets with softened butter and line with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites with a whisk or electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form again; the meringue will be glossy and smooth..

Lightly beat the egg yolks till you see ribbons like above. Gently fold into the meringue with a wooden spoon. Don't overfold or the batter will deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.
Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in gently.

Pipe the ladyfingers: Fit the pastry bag with the large plain tip and fill with the ladyfinger batter.

Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers; wait 5 minutes and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.
Holding the parchment paper in place with your thumb, lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess confectioner's sugar.I skipped this step so as to not disturb my perfect looking biscuits; besides they didn't effect my final product.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The abundance of clementine, this season & my love for these sweet delicious plump citrus is making its way in my kitchen in muffin forms. A perfect moist muffin with a light citrus glaze...what's not to love?! This is absolutely a must on my menu for when I have my girls over for some tea in the near future. All the more craving for making this with navel oranges with dried cranberries, meyer lemon with poppy, tangerines... it sure got the creative juces flowing, allright!

Preheat oven to 350F
Peel (also de-seed if you have the seeded kind) clementines & chop ( roughly) all segments. Reserve juice. Ignore the pith for 2 reasons: one being that it will eventually blend in; second being that its natural fiber.
Beat butter & sugar till the sugars have somewhat dissolved & light & fluffy. Add in eggs & mix just till blended.You will see a change in color. Mix in vanilla & clementines with its juice. Add the flour & baking powder and mix just enough to wet the dry ingredients (but make sure not to overwork the batter). Pour into a paper lined muffin pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until you insert a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.

Glaze them with the recipe above (or a mixture of lemon juice and powdered sugar) by pouring a couple spoonful & letting it drizzle the sides for a fancy effect or eat them just plain.

Monday, January 3, 2011

This year the one thing that I really want to achieve in my 'cooking life' is mastering a few cooking techniques that I have been letting crust on the back burner. I have this weird habit of trying to re-create dishes I love eating out, more so if I expect a dish to turn out a certain way especially the look, the taste, the texture; let's say the whole works has ruined the good mood that was set before the meal. So, if it doesn't turn out good; there's a problem - I have to make it to see what could go wrong. If if does turn out good; I want to be able to make it just the way it is. Either way, The love of food wins over my will.

This eve, my love for tiramisu won over & here I am, making the mascarpone that will be ready to be used to go with the sponge.

Method:
Place cream in a glass casserole or bowl, and place casserole into a larger pan.
Add cold water to a larger pan. Place the pan over medium heat and bring the cream to a temp of 180 degrees (75-80 Celsius). Use a candy thermometer, stirring every so often with a wooden spoon.
As soon as the cream reaches the EXACT temperature, remove from the heat, add tartaric acid, and stir with a wooden spoon for 30 seconds.
Remove glass casserole or bowl from the larger pan, and stir another 2 minutes.
Line a fine-mesh basket or strainer with thick cheesecloth and pour in cream mixture.
Allow to stand for 12 hours in a cool place or on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Prepare four 9-inch squares of cheesecloth.
Divide mascarpone in four.
Place a quarter of it on each square of cheesecloth and fold like a package, without tying it.
Place packages on a plate and refrigerate for another 12 hours before using.

How To Substitute For Mascarpone

Sometimes, it's a lot easier just to substitute. Tiramisu creators have used ricotta or cottage cheese as successful substitutes by whipping the cheese until it is smooth.

Other sources have created their own substitutions. In the Epicurean Chef's Forum, "Kim" posted the following: "I found a substitution that worked okay is 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, plus 3 tablespoons of sour cream, plus 2 tablespoons of heavy cream (liquid, not whipped).

In my house, the easiest way to get my family to eat healthy is to bowl them over is with a soup that is pretty much a simple but forgotten saaru's : tomato saaru, limbiye saaru, rasam & saar upkaris. So here are a couple of the most nutritious of them all - kulithu/ horsegram saar upkari & avro saaru upkari. Prep for all saar upkari's are the same except that avro/ navy bean cooks much faster and doesn't require as much soaking like the horsegram.
Avre saar upkari (pic 1) Kultha saar upkari (pic2)

Soak the gram overnight. Pressure cook kulithu with about 3 times as much water for about 10 minutes.( 5-8 whistles). When the pressure is off, add salt to the gram and simmer to thicken the stock. Thickening this enhances the flavour. ( At this point, we can remove kuluthu to make seperate upkari or for koddel or leave it as is and season it, Some also remove the kulithu by straining and continue with the further reduction of liquid to make it kattu saaru which is tasty in itself without any additional seasoning).
Temper by heating a tbsp of oil, crushed garlic & red chillies. When the garlic have been roasted, add it to the saaru & turn off heat.

Other drool worthy sites

About Me

My blog is an attempt to save old family recies from Mamama (maternal grandmom), make replica's of moms and mom-in-laws specialities and add a few additions of my own.

Re-creating food means being hopeful of the outcome and the recipes taken down from my family and friends have always been accurate to the T. With that confidence a novice like me can absolutely rule the kitchen.

These are not my original recipes, they are my trials/effort to master what I once promised myself to make it for my family and friends. For the most part, I will tweak a thing or two which has been a wise decision almost always.

I can promise you two things, though:

First of all, I share recipes that I personally made and approve of doing justice to the taste buds.

Secondly, I will always post a picture with each recipe....most of the time anyway!